The Danish apartment of Rebecca, husband Jeppe and daughter is rather like a classic artist's studio in concept — lots of space, white walls and skylights for plenty of natural light. Stylist Rikke Graff Juel helped bring it all together for them, integrating the living room, kitchen, dining room and office all into one room, with just the bedroom, nursery and bathroom sectioned off from the main space for privacy, while a balcony and rooftop terrace give them access to the outdoors, too. Rebecca and Jeppe love how they can keep each other company even while doing different things — and there's definitely a warm sense of family permeating their space. More here. Via Bolig.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Vinyl records. I'm very glad I was a teen before the internet — amazing as it is, nothing can describe our excitement over heading downtown to the little indie record shops on the weekends to check out which import singles arrived that week. Many evenings were spent reading the British independent 'zines and listening in late at night to the CBC and local alternative radio stations, checking out what was new. So much fun — and so much great music from that time, too (Clash, Psychedelic Furs, Smiths, Siouxie, Joy Division, Ramones, Kate Bush, Echo and the Bunnymen and many many more).

I just discovered the gorgeous Lithuanian lifestyle e-magazine Llamas' Valley on a recent post by Victoria of sfgirlbybay, and I'm utterly smitten — beautiful interiors, fashion, food and more, all stunningly photographed. Highly recommended. Have a look at their first English edition here.

Located in Madrid, this house started out life as a print shop with an attached house. Its first renovation retained the original wood floors, brick and beams, but converted the property into two separate lofts built around a central courtyard. The current owner, an architect, especially loved the high ceilings of the two spaces but wanted room and natural light — his solution was to combine the two lofts into one space, getting rid of walls downstairs but keeping the two attics upstairs, which now serve as bedroom and work spaces. Now furnished with family antiques, vintage pieces and some made by the owner, it's a relaxed and airy family home. More here on micasa.

This is the lovely Helsinki home of interior designer Tanja Jänicke, who was fortunate enough to fall in love with a fine carpenter who shared her taste in design — the result is their elegant modern house, a mix of white, black and natural materials where they happily entertain family and friends. Love this one. More here on Bolig.

Want to just forget about the miserable weather for a while? The delicious Rose Sugar Scrub from the lovely GardenApothecary shop will definitely help soothe your winter blues away — it turns an ordinary shower into a blissful spa experience. Hand made using 100% organic ingredients (including Rose Absolute Oil, Sugar, Almond Oil and Vitamin E) and packaged in an amber glass jar, this luxurious scrub will leave you feeling pampered and ready to face the greyest February day. For a chance to win a 9 oz. jar, just leave a comment below with a contact link (so we can let you know if you win!) before midnight EST on March 1 2012. Good luck! Thanks so much to Jenn of GardenApothecary for her lovely generosity!

One of my faves from the fun photo blog Maddie On Things by photographer Theron Humphrey, featuring his charming hound Maddie perched on shelves, mailboxes, shopping carts, TVs and more. You can order prints, too!

In Miss Eudora's GardenMargaret Eby writes a lovely account of her visit to Eudora Welty's home and garden (especially the garden) in Jackson, Mississippi. Wonderful.

Update: There's something really odd happening to the link to the Welty post on The Paris Review — if you can't get to the page using the above link you can copy and paste this long one: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/02/20/in-miss-eudora’s-garden/

The Artist and the Lost Art of Silent FilmsBuoyed by the many small pleasures of the recent silent film The Artist, New Yorker film critic David Denby reviews the best of silent cinema. Incidentally, do go and see The Artist — it's utterly charming.

The 50 Coolest Albums Of All TimeShortlist magazine lists their 50 picks for the coolest listening ever — fun to see old faves, discover some new ones, and, of course, disagree about others.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar TongueThanks to Project Gutenberg,the full text of the 1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose is online — and very amusing reading it is, too. Makes present day slang look positively dull in comparision. Via kottke.

Anjelica HustonExcerpts from the memoir of the wonderful actress Anjelica Huston, who's led an extraordinary life.Frank Lloyd Wright's DoghouseCurious but true: Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned in 1956 to design a doghouse — eventually it was built, but the dog refused to sleep in it. Follow the link to see the original plans and a modern reconstruction of the doghouse, too.

Keeping the Monsters OutHope of the lovely The French Mouse blog is currently raising money for a very worthy cause — a security wall for an orphanage in Honduras. A donation of $5.00 or more will go towards keeping safe children who were rescued out of lives of unimaginable poverty, neglect and abuse — and who are in daily danger of being stolen in the night and dragged back into a nightmare for the profit of others. The link above takes you to Hope's post about the charity — you can donate directly here.

A tiny space (516 square feet) and even tinier budget was no impediment to architect Lukáš Kordík’s decision to renovate his flat in Bratislava, Slovakia — as you can see, the result is amazing. I especially love the blue cabinetry in the kitchen, an off-the-rack Ikea system that Lukáš made his own by altering the facing and pulls, creating cutouts instead of using door handles. The biggest job was knocking down several walls to open up the space and allow natural in — the only wall Lukáš added was a translucent glass one, which allows light into the bathroom as well as serving as a support to the bookshelves and culinary storage made from black film­–faced plywood. A finished oak floor and striking concrete ceiling complete the look of this great industrial modern apartment. Love. Find out more in the article on Dwell here.

Charmaine of Lobo Luxe has a great suggestion for anyone looking for contemporary jewelry that's also environmentally friendly — the lovely work of Shauna Mayben. Working mostly in upcycled sterling silver & perspex, Shauna uses found vintage photos in her work as well, as can be seen here with her Past Tense Pendant. Shauna is also happy to create a personalized pendant using your own image, too — perfect for a special gift. See more of her lovely work here.

The charming Keepsake Boxes series at Small Equals continues to grow, and lately Liza has been using pages from well-loved old children's books for the box tops. As it turns out, Tibor Gergely's firemen illustrations for the Little Golden Books editions have proven to be very popular — and Liza herself has become so fascinated with Gergely's beautiful work that she's taken the time to do a bit of research into his life. You can find Gergely and other book boxes at the shop here — they are one-of-a-kind, though, so do check back regularly to see what's new (other children's book boxes like Angus and The Cat by Marjorie Flack and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland are currently in the works).

Michelle of the delightful etsy shop The Art of Michelle has exciting news — she is now offering custom 8" x 10" watercolour portraits through her site! Painted on quality 90lb hot press watercolor paper, each portrait also includes your favorite flower as the border plus up to 3 birds of your choosing, if you like. I can't think of a nicer gift for a loved one. Find out more here.